An approach to find task sequence for re‐balancing of assembly lines

Purpose Cycle time fluctuations in assembly lines are one of the important reasons of re‐balancing. As a result of re‐balancing of assembly lines, it will be necessary to change task sequences or equipment locations. The purpose of this paper is to find the task sequence which enables assembly line balancing (ALB) with minimum number of stations (NS) for different cycle times such that tasks and equipment or fixture locations remain unchanged. Design/methodology/approach In this paper a heuristic which consist of two stages is proposed to find a common task sequence for different cycle times in assembly lines. Findings It is shown that optimal NS for different cycle times can be achieved with a fixed task sequence. Research limitations/implications The approach is limited to a single model case. Model variety together with cycle time variety can be investigated in further studies. Practical implications Assembly lines which require less time and cost for re‐balancing can be easily designed by the proposed approach. Originality/value ALB problem is handled with a new viewpoint. Also, it is observed that the proposed approach serves as a bridge between assembly line design and balancing. In this regard, it is thought to have an important place in the ALB literature.